Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association President Philip Ella Juico is eager to send the national athletes for a full-time training in Lingayen in Pangasinan in preparation for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
The only problem? The athletics chief needs funding from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
In the press launch of the 2019 Philippine Athletics Championships on Wednesday, Juico told reporters that Patafa’s grand plan is to bring the 40-strong national team to the training hub at the Narciso Ramos Sports Complex.
They considered the complex as the only suitable hub for their training, as track ovals in Manila and Baguio City are undergoing major rehabilitation for the country’s hosting of the SEA Games late this year.
But the Patafa athletes’ training in Lingayen is put on hold pending the PSC’s approval of the association’s request that the government sports agency shoulder the food requirement of the athletes.
“We will start training when we see the color of the money,” Juico said. “I am not contended with a board resolution or a check. I want the real money.”
According to Juico, the athletes are currently receiving P5,000 food allowance per month, which, he said, is not enough and instead requested for P3.3 million to cover the food requirement of the athletes until the November 30-to-December 9 Games.
The Narciso Ramos Sports Complex is a huge facility and, according to Juico, Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino III has agreed to house the national team.
Juico said they are studying another option at the Ayala Corp.-owned Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite. But the dormitories there will be completed in April.
Juico bared that Patafa intends to fly home FIl-American athletes Eric Cray, Trenten Beram, Kristina Knott, Kayla Richardson and Natalie Uy and Europe-based EJ Obiena to train in Lingayen.